Are fish smart at all?

[OkobojiEagle]

Fish are as smart as Mother Nature needs them to be... smart enough to eat, grow and then be eaten.  Fortunately we humans (some of us anyway) are the smartest of Mother Nature's creations and we can learn to feed on all of the fish we need.  Unfortunately we sometimes think we are as smart as Mother N, we get things all screwed up and she shows us the foolishness in our ways.  Fish on...

 

oe

[Catt]

43 minutes ago, 3crows said:

 

I have not caught many bass on cheeseburgers 

Yea but ya can catch em on McNuggets!

[CroakHunter]

1 hour ago, 3crows said:

Yeah, but, you are a human being, not a bass. And your brain, even on it's worst day and even considering that you may not be a rocket scientist or may actually be one, nonetheless are about a zillion times smarter than a bass.

 

I have not caught many bass on cheeseburgers but I have caught the same bass three times in an outing on the same lure. Well, actually my mate caught it the second time and then I caught it a third time.

Thank you for making my point of "fish are dumb" more valid

[3crows]

33 minutes ago, CroakHunter said:

Thank you for making my point of "fish are dumb" more valid

The point that you like cheeseburgers?  Just teasing you. I understood.

[CroakHunter]

4 hours ago, 3crows said:

The point that you like cheeseburgers?  Just teasing you. I understood.

I am a "husky" fellow lol

[david in va]

Bass are dumb when the bite is on and when the bite is not so good some think they are smart. I think they are just fish and I can catch em most of the time

[Sword of the Lord]

This guy's pet LMB is super smart. The thing is like a dog. 

 

 

He has a ton of videos on her.

[Ksam1234]

I believe bass are smart ! The past few days I have been using buzzbait sandbox have been killing the topwater. Well today I went to the same place with the same weather conditions etc and same everything and threw a buzzbait.. well nothing. Not one bite from a fish.. they learned to stay away from those

[Gundog]

A bass has a brain the size of a pea. Its only concerns are eating, mating and not being eaten. We make them out to be smarter than us because we routinely over-think simple things. We are all guilty of doing it. Why else would we spend billions of dollars a year chasing fish we are just going to release anyway. 

[.ghoti.]

Bass are not smart. They have nothing to be smart with.

 

They do have a fine set of well honed instincts.

[Arlo Smithereen]

On 9/16/2017 at 8:25 PM, Ksam1234 said:

I believe bass are smart ! The past few days I have been using buzzbait sandbox have been killing the topwater. Well today I went to the same place with the same weather conditions etc and same everything and threw a buzzbait.. well nothing. Not one bite from a fish.. they learned to stay away from those

Or they didn't want a topwater bait that day? 

[Choporoz]

Many seem to be on the side of the effects of 'negative reinforcement'.  I always have been, too.   

So, when I do happen to catch one, I try to make it as pleasant an experience for the fish, as I possibly can. Speak gently...calmly...save the hootin and hollerin 'til after you got him back in the water; rub her belly while you're ripping that hook out of her gills; keep some weeds in the boat at your feet, to make them feel a little bit at home while you get your camera ready; offer them a drink.....a few simple touches that will go a long way towards making that fish more willing to let you catch it next time.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Many seem to be on the side of the effects of 'negative reinforcement'.  I always have been, too.   

So, when I do happen to catch one, I try to make it as pleasant an experience for the fish, as I possibly can. Speak gently...calmly...save the hootin and hollerin 'til after you got him back in the water; rub her belly while you're ripping that hook out of her gills; keep some weeds in the boat at your feet, to make them feel a little bit at home while you get your camera ready; offer them a drink.....a few simple touches that will go a long way towards making that fish more willing to let you catch it next time.

I put them on a rope stringer then drag them behind the boat all day. That way they get plenty of O2 running through there gills.